Why Your Employer Brand Matters

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We all understand the concept of branding.  It is one of the most important aspects of any business – large or small, B2C or B2B.  Your brand is your promise to your customer.  It encompasses everything that you promise to them in terms of both products and services.  It differentiates you from your competitors.  In other words, it is what you are, what you want to be and (probably most importantly) what others perceive you to be.

But what about your internal audience?…not your customers, but your employees?  What about your employer brand?  Simply put, it is your promise to your employees and workers.  It encompasses everything that you promise them in terms of their “work life” – culture, pay, benefits, working conditions, etc.  Your employer brand also differentiates from your competition – those companies who are looking to hire the exact same people.

But how is a strong employer brand profitable and why should you even care?

Well, a well-known brand can be a strong incentive to potential candidates.  The more a person knows about your brand, the more they may consider your business to be a possible place to work.  If their impression of your brand is favorable, they will might deem your business to be a wonderful (or a “cool”) place to work.

However, having a strong brand is not enough; you need to have a strong “employer brand”.  Let’s face it….just because a person loves the shopping experience at Target, recognizes their “bullseye” logo, and  shares stories about the unique products selection does not mean that she would ever consider working at Target.

A strong “employer brand” is needed.  A strong corporate brand is not enough, especially for B2B companies.  People do not need to be customers in order to want to work for your company – think SAS Institute or Devon Energy or NetApp. A strong employer brand is what makes people actually work towards being hired.

Who You will Attract

In research conducted by LinkedIn, it was found that a strong employer brand is 186% more likely to be linked to job consideration than a strong company brand.  This is especially crucial for attracting more:

  • Individual contributor / managers – these two groups are “almost 3x as likely to consider a job because of a strong employer brand than those employees at director level and above
  • Younger employees – professionals under 40 years old are 61% more likely to consider a job because of a strong employer brand.
  • Employees from outside the US (for those multi-national companies) – candidates outside the U.S. are 37% more likely to consider a job because of a strong employer brand.

So, if you depend on younger workers for more entry-level/individual contributorship positions or if you are considering expanding outside the U.S., investing in your employer brand is crucial.

Cost Savings

In addition, companies with stronger employer brands report a real cost savings in their recruitment process.  Companies with weaker employer brands report a cost-per-hire that is almost double that of companies with strong employer brands.  Furthermore, if a company has a strong employer brand – one that resonates with their current workforce – they will have a 28% lower turnover rate than companies with weak employer brands.

The investment will pay off.

So how can you reap these benefits and begin working towards a strong employer brand.  Read through one of our recent blog entries The Snelling Blog: Leveraging Your Employer Brand for 3 easy steps to begin this process.  If you are needing assistance in your recruiting and hiring initiatives, Snelling can help.  We would love to sit down and learn about your culture, your direction and where we can help you move you and your brand forward.  So visit us today at www.snelling.com to find your local Snelling office.

By David Allen, Snelling.com

NOTE:  A full-color, downloadable PDF is available.